US Republican Liz Cheney slams 'tyrant' Trump after he suggests she face firing squad
Former Republican Representative Liz Cheney called former US president Donald Trump a "vindictive, cruel" dictator on Friday after he said she was a "war hawk" and suggested she face a firing squad. Trump made the remarks as he criticised Cheney's father for endorsing his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, during an interview with Fox News.
Issued on: 01/11/2024 -
By: NEWS WIRES
This combination of file pictures created on November 1, 2024 shows former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Cumming, Georgia on October 15, 2024 and forrmer Republican representative Liz Cheney in Malvern, Pennsylvania on October 21, 2024. © Elijah Nouvelage, Brendan Smialowski, AFPProminent Republican and vocal Donald Trump critic Liz Cheney called the former president a "vindictive, cruel" dictator on Friday after he suggested she would be less of a "war hawk" with guns trained on her face.
"This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death," the former US congresswoman and daughter of ex-vice president Dick Cheney said Friday in a post on social platform X.
"We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant."
Trump -- who is running for reelection -- made the remarks as he criticized Cheney's father for endorsing Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris, speaking during a fireside chat with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Arizona.
"And I don't blame him for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb," Trump said Thursday.
"She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face."
The backlash was swift, with Harris campaign advisor Ian Sams contrasting Trump "talking about sending a prominent Republican to the firing squad" with Harris "talking about sending one to her cabinet."
Harris herself also lambasted Trump, saying the “verbal rhetoric” directed against Liz Cheney should disqualify him from becoming president again.
Trump has "suggested rifles should be trained on former representative Liz Cheney," Harris told reporters. "This must be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president."
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a top aide in Trump's White House, called his comments "unconscionable."
"I don't know how Republican leaders -- many of whom served with Liz Cheney and at one point considered her a colleague and friend -- cannot denounce this. It's dangerous. It's escalatory," she told CNN.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman called Cheney a "warmonger" in a statement to AFP, adding that the Republican meant that she is "very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves."
Cheney was once seen as rising star among the Republicans in the House of Representatives but was booted from a leadership position and then lost her Wyoming seat over her strong criticism of Trump's refusal to concede defeat in the 2020 election.
Watch more'Far from over': Cheney sacrifices career to lead anti-Trump Republicans
The ex-president endorsed her opponent in the 2022 House primary, Harriet Hageman.
Cheney -- who led the successful effort to have Trump impeached for a second time -- announced last month that she would be voting for Harris and has appeared with the vice president multiple times to woo soft conservatives.
Trump has a long history of attacking Cheney and as recently as last week called her a "Muslim-hating warmonger... who wants to invade practically every Muslim country on the planet."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
"She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face."
The backlash was swift, with Harris campaign advisor Ian Sams contrasting Trump "talking about sending a prominent Republican to the firing squad" with Harris "talking about sending one to her cabinet."
Harris herself also lambasted Trump, saying the “verbal rhetoric” directed against Liz Cheney should disqualify him from becoming president again.
Trump has "suggested rifles should be trained on former representative Liz Cheney," Harris told reporters. "This must be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president."
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a top aide in Trump's White House, called his comments "unconscionable."
"I don't know how Republican leaders -- many of whom served with Liz Cheney and at one point considered her a colleague and friend -- cannot denounce this. It's dangerous. It's escalatory," she told CNN.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman called Cheney a "warmonger" in a statement to AFP, adding that the Republican meant that she is "very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves."
Cheney was once seen as rising star among the Republicans in the House of Representatives but was booted from a leadership position and then lost her Wyoming seat over her strong criticism of Trump's refusal to concede defeat in the 2020 election.
Watch more'Far from over': Cheney sacrifices career to lead anti-Trump Republicans
The ex-president endorsed her opponent in the 2022 House primary, Harriet Hageman.
Cheney -- who led the successful effort to have Trump impeached for a second time -- announced last month that she would be voting for Harris and has appeared with the vice president multiple times to woo soft conservatives.
Trump has a long history of attacking Cheney and as recently as last week called her a "Muslim-hating warmonger... who wants to invade practically every Muslim country on the planet."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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